Fair warning: This is going to get mushy. Not much debate here, and if the mods don't find it relevant to the sub, I accept their judgment to remove it. But I feel the need to share a few words because, well, today has been a special day to me.

A few years ago, I came to DPP looking for like-minded people and a chance to write some quality smut. I came here not knowing what to expect, and with a great nervousness that I would strike out and humiliate myself in public. I thought, with my second language English and tendency for gross verboseness, that I'd stick out like a sore thumb - but I was lucky, not only to find a great many talented writers whose skills left me breathless, horny and excited to improve myself, but because I found a community so full of love, compassion, friendliness and an overall spirit of mutual enjoyment for the art of lewd. I found friends, whose love and support have buoyed me through the hardships of the past years, and I found enough support for my writing that I dared embrace my love of smut and put myself out there for the world to see - something that I, up until then, had thought was beyond my merit.

I found a community devoted to the idea of being, overall, good people. I found a family. And today, I finished my Master's Degree in English Literature with flying colors - and I have DPP to thank for it.

Not that my thesis had anything to do with dirty writing, or even with DPP in general. But rather, because DPP has become something akin to my home-away-from-home, a place where I feel comfortable and accepted as the lewd, smutty person I am. Turning to this sub, I've been able to find kinship, companionship and friendliness at every turn, and your prompts have been a constant source of inspiration, enjoyment and wonderment at how creative you all are. When the strain of my thesis started to get the better of me, I was able to turn to DPP and simply lurk, to look at the multitude of creative and challenging ways in which people are able and willing to have sex. And I got to turn my thoughts away from the technicalities of my education and instead write creatively, to put myself out there for you all to see - which never ceases to be both terrifying and gratifying at the same time.

DPP has taught me that it's okay to take risks. You have taught me to be better at accepting criticism, to learn how to say 'no', and to be open-minded about stuff that I'd usually turn my nose at. Thanks to you guys I have at least six new kinks, a dozen wonderfully smutty partners, as well as a profound appreciation for the way in which memes can be sexualized.

So thank you, DPP. Thank you for helping through the hardest thing I have ever done in my life, thank you for giving me the opportunity to explore my own creativity and kinky nature, and thank you for giving me a place to truly love and adore. I am immensely proud to stand among you as a DPP'er, and I am eternally grateful that this community is as nice, kind-hearted and open-minded as it is.